[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 120 (Thursday, September 12, 2013)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E1300] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] HONORING MR. KIRK W. JOHNSON FOR HIS COURAGEOUS WORK THROUGH THE LIST PROJECT TO RESETTLE IRAQI ALLIES ______ HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS of florida in the house of representatives Thursday, September 12, 2013 Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pride to rise today to recognize Mr. Kirk W. Johnson, the founder and executive director of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, for his continued efforts to safely resettle those Iraqis who have risked their lives working for the United States. I had the distinct honor of first meeting Kirk in 2008, when I began working with him and his organization on legislative remedies to this crisis. He has since been featured in numerous interviews and documentaries on the subject, testified on two occasions before members of the House and Senate on the consequences of our withdrawal from Iraq, and just published his first book. Kirk is truly an amazing individual who has selflessly dedicated himself to helping Iraqis who have worked for the United States in Iraq--and whose lives have been placed in grave danger for that service. Kirk was born and raised in West Chicago, Illinois. In 2002, he earned a bachelor's degree with general and departmental honors in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. During that time, he received a Foreign Language Acquisition Grant to study the Syrian colloquial dialect of Arabic in Damascus, followed by fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin, Yaddo, MacDowell, and the Wurlitzer Foundation. Finally, prior to his work in Iraq, he conducted research on political Islamism as a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt. In 2005, Kirk served in Iraq with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), first in Baghdad and then in Fallujah, where he was the Agency's first coordinator for reconstruction in the war-torn city. A letter from an Iraqi colleague in 2006, which said, ``People are trying to kill me and I need your help,'' got him involved in helping America's endangered Iraqi allies. After Kirk successfully assisted his colleague, many other pleas for help followed, which led Kirk to found the List Project. The organization has grown to become the largest single pro bono initiative ever undertaken on behalf of refugees. His recently published book, ``To Be a Friend is Fatal: A Story from the Aftermath of America at War,'' tells the story of the List Project's seven-year struggle to protect thousands of Iraqi allies. It centers on the lives of four Iraqis who stepped forward to help the United States, following them as they flee from Iraq and come up against the challenging bureaucracy of the U.S. refugee resettlement program. To date, Kirk's writing on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and towards Iraqi allies who approached him in dire need of help has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Policy. In addition, he has appeared on 60 Minutes, The Today Show, and World News Tonight. A leading public advocate for Iraqis who assisted the U.S. Government, Kirk's efforts have been recognized by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he will be continuing his studies next year. Mr. Speaker, Kirk has so far helped nearly 1,500 Iraqis, which makes him a true American hero in my eyes. He has given a voice to those individuals who were there for us when we needed their help, but were left to struggle through the system when they needed ours. Kirk has faced significant challenges and proven himself to be a leader whose service to this nation has only just begun. ____________________